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keskiviikko 29. heinäkuuta 2015

NärCon Sommar, part 2/2

Originally I meant to cosplay Sokka on Saturday, but because of the group I changed the dates between Will and Sokka. In the morning, the weather looked a tad ominous, but I still wanted to dress up as Will. In any case, the costume would be easy to take off, if it were to start raining seriously. Well, it actually didn't take long for the rain to start drizzling.

Will doesn't approve

I had the energy to hang around as Will for several hours even though it was a little cold. A couple of Swedes and Finns came to say hello and talk, and I was rather confused but, above anything else, very happy. It was especially nice to meet the people who had told me on Facebook they wished to have the opportunity to meet me. Yay! So far I had yet to see the dealer stalls, so without having anything important to do, Kizzy and I took a look around. I found it quite nice that all the sellers had own rooms for their stalls, though the rooms were small and cramped. I had prepared cash for the trip, and so I wouldn't have to carry any kronor home to do nothing with (as we use euros in Finland), I decided to try out some coconut matcha. It might have been good, but as I have a problem with texture when it comes to food, I couldn't eat more than one ball. :P Aside from the weather, the day was casual, and it was very pleasant to just hang around and chat with the NCC team members, too. Such amazing people!

Later in the evening, Biitti left to the tent and called me in distress, saying that it had rained inside our tent and all our stuff was soaking wet. I had electronics in there too, like my camera and Nintendo DS, but luckily they had remained relatively dry. All the textiles had suffered from the little flood and I had only a tiny amount of dry-ish clothes to change into.

There it sinks.
Photo: Nyssa, the other one of our Swedish tent neighbours

Sleeping in the tent wasn't an option anymore, so in panic I asked from the other Finns if we could sleep at their place. We were the most grateful when we got to go inside for the next night, and we were offered dry clothes to wear if we needed them (and a cute hamster plush to hug, which really helped to calm my nerves a bit, thanks for that goes to the Asikainen sisters). Augh, thanks, all you lovelies! ;A; We also had to get all our clothes to dry and soon, since we were to leave NärCon by noon the next day with Biitti, and everything had to be packed in good time for the trip. We spent the evening hanging up our clothes, shoes, sleeping bags and blankets in the shower room and blowing them with a hair dryer. It was also a pleasure to take a warm shower. ♥

"Me no likey, me no likey, me no likey!"
Photo: Biitti

Sunday

In the morning, Biitti left to the camping area and threw the tent away. The tent had been a very affordable find, neither of us had any warm feelings towards it whatsoever and packing a tent that was completely soaked wasn't that much of a compelling idea. So, into the trash bin, and we were happy about it!

During the whole morning I was quiet and tired and somewhat fed up with the bad organization of the whole convention and adversities, and it felt amazing to get on the convention bus in the noon already. I just wanted to get home fast and straight to my own bed. As soon as we had gotten out of the bus to the Stockholm terminal, I really felt like throwing myself to the ground and crying for the sheer happiness, that I wasn't at NärCon anymore. I was happy to spend several hours eating at Max (Why don't we have Max in Finland? I have never eaten fries, a burger and a shake as good before!), ducking and watching outside wistfully, and speaking nonsense with Biitti and some other Finns that we had stumbled across with, all the way to 9 pm when our boarding time was due. As long as we didn't have to be at NärCon anymore. I felt the tears of happiness coming when we got on the plane and off to Finland.

Even the sky was smiling a little.

Sure, I had had my fun moments during the weekend, but those moments existed for the amazing people and friends, which NärCon can not take the glory of. The NCC had been utterly amazing, I would be lying through my teeth if I told anything else, but the way the competition had been arranged behind the scenes had been discouraging to hear. The convention itself was totally different compared to the Finnish conventions, and the fact that I didn't really enjoy myself wasn't because the differences. Of course, it had been nice to experience a convention so different, but even though the con was more of a festival it doesn't mean the organizing couldn't have been handled much, much better. On Saturday, some of the programs had been canceled for the rain and NärCon didn't have a plan B for the possible occasion of rain. I find this somewhat unfathomable, since NärCon has based a great part of its activities outside for years, and still they hadn't taken weather into account. Also, the interior space could have been used more efficiently, since even though it might sound fitting to place the comic artists' autograph sessions to the Artist Alley, it wasn't fair for the artist trying to sell their art there. The long line to the autograph table blocked the traffic and people couldn't get to or even see all the artists' tables in there. None of the lines during the weekend had been supervised, and it would have been great if the security officers had been recognizable, in case of emergencies. So far I have no idea if there even were any officers, as I saw none during the weekend.

After everything, I don't think I would visit NärCon again, unless I was competing in NCC myself or assisting a competitor. Everything in this report is how I and I alone have personally experienced it, but if you are interested in the NärCon pros and cons all in all, /cgl/ is yet offering a thread for it. But, since it is /cgl/, I recommend reading with caution; not everything you read is true. In any case, I really hope that the future of NärCon is much brighter. The way it is now was definitely not worth all the money I put into travelling, accommodation and tickets. But, I'd still say that the experience was good. At least I got to see a convention abroad!